Electronic cigarettes are growing in popularity, first being offered as an alternative to smoking, a way for smokers to kick their habits. They provide nicotine and flavoring but not tar and other harmful chemicals.
An electronic cigarette uses a small battery to heat a canister of synthetic nicotine with or without other flavorings. Propylene glycol is also heated to make a puff of vapor that is inhaled along with the nicotine. So the smoker feels like they have had a puff off a cigarette.
Now, young people are picking up the habit of using e-cigarettes. As more teens start using these devices, they are coming under more scrutiny. Despite claims by manufacturers of their safety, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has clamped down on imports, following Canada’s example of not allowing importation of the devices. An outright ban has not yet been enacted by the FDA.
After an initial surge of popularity, some recent reports seem capable of taking the shine off this novel new toy. A new report in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that e-cigarettes serve as “gateway drugs,” just as tobacco, alcohol and marijuana do. Studies indicate that use of nicotine can prepare smokers to graduate on to the use of harsher, more addictive drugs like cocaine.
A study from 2010 published by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse showed a very direct correlation between smoking and the use of other drugs. For example, children who smoke are 19 times more likely to use cocaine than those who don’t smoke. And children who smoke daily are 13 times more likely to use heroin.
A vaporizer is one type of e-cigarette. It has recently become popular among marijuana smokers as it eliminates the smell associated with consuming a joint. A young person can use a vaporizer to consume marijuana “butter” – the resiny result of processing marijuana with butane – without alerting anyone to the distinctive smell of burning pot.
This type of vaporizer just made headlines when a television actress showed off her vaporizing pen carried in her clutch on the red carpet of the Emmys award event. She also had a small bottle of liquid THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
Early results from the use of electronic cigarettes suggests that those people who use them to quit smoking tobacco aren’t particularly successful. Add to that this new evidence that they may help some people progress to the use of more addictive substances. It could turn out that while they may have been fun while the novelty lasted, in the end, electronic cigarettes finally turned out to be good for no one.
http://time.com/3265187/e-cigarettes-gateway-drug/
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/features/ecigarettes-under-fire
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/08/26/sarah-silvermans-red-carpet-pot-reveal-isnt-the-mainstream-moment-advocates-are-looking-for/
